Yuletide Enchantments
by Zadien
Summary: “If you don’t go up and talk to Musa right now and make with the nice-nice, I’m telling the entire school that not only was Musa under a spell and incapable of knowing what she was doing, but that you took advantage of her in her vulnerable state."
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Winx Club just the idea for this two-shot.

**A.N. **This was written for the Themed Topic at the Winx Writers Anonymous forum on fanfiction. net.

**AU** Winx Club because I wanted to write something that wasn't so angsty. The Winx Club are still Fairies, the boys still specialists but the rest is pretty much alternative universal – also it's not so much Christmas but Winter Solstice so by rights this should have come out on the 21st of this month... I fail at deadlines.

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Yuletide Enchantments

Musa stalked down the halls of the Alfea with her arms tightly folded, her eyes darting around the decorations for her eager stalker and the reason she had become so paranoid. So far, the being seemed to have lost her, which was all well and good but he was sneaky and she knew she wouldn't be safe until she found Stella and got her friend to take the spell off. Stupid Stella, stupid spell and stupid holiday.

She directed her scowl out the frosted glass window to the snow that was falling heavily and blanketing the grounds of the illustrious academy. The snow forced her to stay inside so she couldn't escape her undaunted follower.

A squeak of feet on the tiles ahead of her made her still and watch the silhouette of a figure grow longer and larger. Heavy footsteps told her that the approaching person was not a fairy but was most definitely a specialist. Not willing to risk it, she lunged at a nearby door and yanking it open, she tossed herself into the room and pulled the door shut.

The room was a closet.

Great.

The footsteps continued down the hall, passing her and growing fainter and the person moved further away. She exhaled deeply, closed her eyes and rested her forehead against the door in front of her.

Safe.

Taking advantage of the empty hall, she ventured back into the corridor, pulling the door shut behind her. A quick scan left and right assured her that all the students were somewhere else. She didn't really care where they were, so long as they weren't near her.

Now she just had to get to the girls dormitory and stay there until she found Stella and forced her to remove the enchantment. Her sneakers squeaked on the floor as she tripped over an unlevel tile and shooting it a dark, venomous look, she ran towards the locker area just outside the alcove that led to Faragonda's and Saladin's joint office space. Headmistress Faragonda and Vice Headmaster Saladin could probably take off the enchantment but she was fairly certain that, in the spirit of the festive occasion, they wouldn't.

So she was back to her original plan. Besides the last year she had gone to them – her friend Flora had been quite ill and to this day no one knew was it the egg punch or the crab-apple pies that had made the girl sick – the two of them had been drunk as nymphs on the Solstice. Luckily Helia, one of the prefects had done a first aid class and had been able to administer a potion to make Flora expel the contents of her stomach. Not that Flora had ever properly forgiven them for going to Helia about it but the girl had never mentioned a crush on the guy before. That's what happened when friends hid things.

She skidded to a halt, scowling at the black mark on the floor; then darted behind the row of bright purple lockers. A troop was coming… well a group of specialists but they were trooping; their feet marching to the rhythm of a non-existent drum as they laughed loudly and made disturbing comments about the shortness of Amaryl's skirt and what they'd like to do to Pia if she ever let down her hair. If she hadn't been avoiding her stalker, Musa would have liked to introduce them to her fist while playing them a nice hip-hop asswhooping song.

As they sauntered on past, she stuck her tongue out and narrowed her eyes, making a note of the four. She'd give them a nice little Yuletide present soon… once she'd taken out Stella. Payback was a bitch and so was she.

She sidled around the side of the lockers and almost squealed as she caught sight of a figure standing by the doorway to Griselda's office. "Albert! What are you doing there?"

The older boy sent her a bland look. "Sentry duty. What are you up to?"

She jerked a shoulder as she gave him a wide berth, ready to run should her stalker make a sudden appearance. "I'm not up to anything."

"Yeah, and I'm Griselda's long lost love child." He drawled, eyes narrowing warily on her, as if expecting something. She couldn't blame him. She had helped a few of the girls – namely Nova – play a few pranks on the stoic soldier.

"I thought I saw a resemblance. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Soul promise!"

Albert glowered but didn't deign to reply as he fixed his gaze on the wall opposite him. "Your friends are in the Dining Hall decorating."

"Is Stella there?"

"No… she's somewhere else with Nova."

"Oh, she's still avoiding you?"

Again his look spoke a thousand words that would never pass his lips. Rolling her shoulders in reply – there was nothing she could do about his unrequited love, since Nova fancied herself in love with pretty boy princes and delicious lords, rather than a good, strong, kind-hearted knight – she left him at his post and proceeded to walk up the corridor towards the lobby.

As she walked away, a frown marred her features. The stalker had left her alone while she had talked to Albert. Maybe she had lost it or maybe it was waiting for her somewhere else. The latter was most likely.

Her next obstacle was to get past the Dining Hall without being seen. Technically she had promised Flora that she would be there to help decorate and to choose music for the Yuletide ball that would be held that night, not to mention the music that would play during the Yuletide feast. But the Hall would be filled with Specialists and there was no doubt in her mind that if the stalker was lying in wait somewhere, it would be in the hall.

She ducked under a low hanging loop of holly and sidled up to the column built into the wall that decorated the entrance to the lobby. The pristine marble floors with their motley of grey veins gleamed under the crystal chandelier glittering with white light and pixie dust while long threads of popped corn, tinsel and holly were draped along the walls and ceiling. It was an enchanting sight that normally took her breath away but today she was a little distracted. By the gilded double doors of gold frame and frosted glass, two sentries stood talking while a group of giggling freshmen fairies were ogling them off to the side. She was half tempted to tell them to roll their tongues back in but she didn't want to draw attention to herself.

She crouched low as her eyes strayed to the entrance to the Dining Hall. A sweet Festive melody was coming from inside as students, fairies and heroes alike got into the spirit by singing and humming as they decorated the large Banquet hall. From her spot, she could see the pure white table cloths that covered the long dining tables dusted with glitter and glowing candelabras. More holly and other leafy sprigs were carefully placed at regular intervals while a few of the sophomores began to set the tables with the special gold cutlery and crockery for the upcoming feast. Stars were suspended from the ceiling while flakes of snow drifted down glass roof to disperse in motes of silver light. It really was beautiful.

"Hey, Bloom, what do you think of my new boa?" Aisha's voice rang out as the brunette leapt into sight, spinning an elegant pirouette before pausing to allow Bloom to see the silver tinsel she had wrapped around the smooth cocoa skin of her neck.

Though out of view, Musa heard Flora's cheerful applause and Bloom's delighted laughter as the two girls demanded an encore. Bitter longing twisted in Musa's gut and she vowed that Stella would pay for her machinations.

There was a sudden squeal as a pixie zipped out of the hall and crashed into the front door with a bang that made the large doors shudder. The sentries were immediately distracted in seeing to the poor befuddled pixie and the sharp gasps of the girls told Musa that the sophomores were equally preoccupied.

She took that as her cue and ran. Whether the girls or her friends noticed her or not, Musa didn't know but she kept running knowing that if she reached the end of the corridor, she was home safe. All she would have to do then is race up the flight of stairs and she would be in the hall to the senior's dorms. Safe. With the halls being patrolled constantly by fairy prefects, there was no chance of any Specialists coming close to her.

A grin began to unfurl over her features as she dashed past a bewildered Mirta who sported a pointed green cap trimmed with white fur and an equally perturbed Timmy who called out to her as he struggled to balance the books he had been holding. She raced around the corner.

A door opened to her left.

The impact was imminent and couldn't, with all of her skills as a fairy, be evaded. She hit the floor – well she landed on the body that hit the floor with an ominous thud, followed by a groan. She winced.

"Sorry," She gasped as she struggled into an upright position. "I'm so sorry. You just came out of nowhere and I didn't see you until it was too late. I didn't mean to knock you down –"

"I came out of the Kitchen Musa, that's hardly nowhere and what were you doing running?" The boy groggily demanded as he lifted a hand to press it to the back of his skull.

Dread pooled in her stomach and a cold sweat broke out along her spine as she recognized the voice and looked down at the boy she'd landed upon. Fate was a bitch.

"Riven," She choked out.

Crap.

"What were you running from? Was Stella threatening to dress you or something? Is your music collection burning? Jeez, you're such a klutz." He moaned, shaking his head as if to clear it.

"I'm not a klutz," She bit out, but before she could say more, a wave of heat washed over her as if a vent of hot air had suddenly opened. Her mouth went dry, her tongue thick as she slowly forced herself to look up. "Oh snowballs," She cursed weakly. And there it was. The bane of her existence, all but sparkling with mirth as it loomed over her.

Riven followed her gaze, blinking spots out of his vision and forcibly ignoring the fact that Musa was straddling his hips. "Is that… thistletoe?"

"Mistletoe." She groaned, swallowing hard. Her breathing was coming in soft pants now and she could barely think straight. Stupid plant. She wished Flora had never given it to Stella. It was nothing but pest.

"That's what I said. What's it doing there? I thought Faragonda banned it this year."

"Well," Gosh when had thinking become such a chore? "Flora, um, she…" Her hand lifted to her forehead. Think straight. Keep focused. "She grew some, for Stella."

"What did Stella want it for?"

"Because…" She trailed off, shaking her head in frustration, "Riven, can you just… shut up."

Riven growled, opened his mouth to snap something back and then swallowed it. Musa looked… flushed. "Are you ok? You don't look so good." He lifted his hand to feel her forehead. It was warm but not feverish… but the way Musa leaned into his palm was slightly disturbing. More so was the fact that she was almost nuzzling her forehead into his hand, murmuring softly under her breath. Was she purring?! "Musa?! What's wrong?"

She needed to focus; there was something she had to do… Except when she opened her eyes, they latched onto Riven's and she couldn't look away. "You have really pretty eyes."

"Uh-huh. Did you drink egg-punch?"

"No," She smiled softly, eyes dipping to his mouth. His eyes were glorious but his mouth was devastating, all soft yet firm. Bitable.

"Musa!"

"What?" She'd never thought of a nose as kissable but there was a slight tilt to the tilt of Riven's nose. It would have been girly had the bridge not been so straight. He was so good looking, truly handsome but not pretty like the other boys. No Riven had a sort of rugged beauty that the other boys would never be able to pull off.

"Musa, stop moving."

"Hmm?" She frowned and looked down. Oh, she was sitting in Riven's lap. Well that was handy. How had… that's right, she'd swept him off his feet. She grinned lazily. Riven had literally fallen for her, how apt. "Riven?"

"I'm going to take you to the infirmary; you've obviously partaken in too much holiday spirit."

She poked him cheek. Great Dragon, his skin was taut. Where else was his skin taut? He did have amazing abs and his chest… it was definitely lickable but was his skin taut there too? She'd have to check.

"Musa, get your hands out of there, they're cold."

"They'll warm in a little while." Oh boy, his skin was just taut all over. She could probably sink her teeth into it and leave a perfect impression. She should do that, just in case people ever needed to identify her teeth.

"Watch your hands!" He growled, grabbing her hands and jerking them away from his belt.

"You're no fun."

"Well then go find your boyfriend."

She snorted. Why would she want that wimp for, when she had Riven all neat and tidy and wrapped like a Yuletide present in blue and white spandex. "Besides, I broke up with him two weeks ago. He's moved on though and I don't care. He was never right for me. His song is all wrong." She giggled. "Wrong song."

"Oh yeah?" He asked, struggling to pin her hands to her side where they could do no damage.

"Yeah the rhythm was off. There was no harmony, just clashes. It sounded like something from the depths of Dischord. You, on the other hand, have the perfect song. Ass! Which makes you an idiot for being with that Witch. Your song belongs with my song not that Harpy's song which," She paused to poke his chest and quickly leaned in to lick his ear, "believe it or not, is what her song sounds like. A harpy screeching. Good luck to her finding a song to go with that!"

"Musa…" He shook his head and groaned.

His jaw tasted good, she mused as she scraped her teeth along it. It tasted it really good. But she knew that. It wasn't like this was the first time she had sat in Riven's lap and necked with him. However, it had been a while since they had kissed.

She should remedy that.

"Musa, you're… going to hate us… later."

"Hmm," She agreed, "Later."

Then her mouth covered his and everything was good and warm. His lips were perfect for tugging on with her teeth but it was even nicer when he did the same to hers. And while thinking about how he would taste, it was always better when she actually experienced the taste on her own tongue, like mulled apple cider and cinnamon. He'd probably snuck a mug from the kitchen when Cook wasn't looking. Her fingers tangled in the silk spikes of his burgundy hair while his hands separated, one going to the base of her back and slipping under the hem of her top to play along the dimples, while the other one cruised up to her neck, massaging the skin there in a way that made her shiver.

She pulled away from his mouth with a few short pecks, punctuated by another long kiss, so she could nuzzle her nose at the spot beneath his ear. He smelled especially good there, soap and something like black ice… though she wasn't sure why she thought that. It was just true.

"Muse," He mumbled against her shoulder.

She sighed and drew his mouth back to hers, slipping her tongue inside to tangle with his. His fingers clenched tighter and her body arched against him, feeling the solid mass of his chest against the soft flesh of hers. A greedy whimper escaped her lips and the kiss turned hungry, a desperate need to sate the growing feelings inside. Her heart began to pound like footsteps in her ears and her skin shivered from the heat of his body against hers and the dizzying, delicious sensations racing through her.

"Excuse…! What …on earth is…here?!"

"Oh... sweetie… you doing?"

Musa frowned at the extra sounds that were drawing Riven's attention from her. She could feel it in the way his body had tensed up and the way he kept trying to remove his mouth from hers. Something she was not especially eager to allow. Riven and her were two pieces of a whole. Their songs were in complete and utter harmony; why were people trying to destroy that? Why was Riven allowing people to disrupt the melody?

He jerked away and held her at arm's length, his chest heaving as he sucked in air through bruised lips. Frantic eyes lifted to the group standing over them and he hissed out an inaudible curse as he tried to put Musa away from him, and to rearrange the problem in his trousers, yanking his cloak tightly around him.

Musa scowled up at him. Traitor. Then her eyes wandered to their little audience. Perverts. As her eyes met with Miss Griselda's and moved onto Flora's horrified gaze, the haze in her mind began to clear and the cold dread took over, washing through her. She shuddered in revulsion. "Oh what did I do?"

"Well, Miss Musa, you seem to have made quite a public spectacle of yourself right outside the Kitchen sidedoor."

Musa groaned. She had, she really had. Her hand came up to cover her mouth which throbbed from the pressure of Riven's lips against hers. She could still feel them like a phantom's caress which made her body shiver anew but with a new sensation but equally unwanted given her situation.

"I'm so sorry." Her eyes lifted to Riven and the horror washed over her again. "I – I –" There were no words to express her remorse for what she'd just done. She'd… Unable to think of it, she scrambled to her feet, weaving for a moment as gravity toyed with her. Her hand leapt to the wall to steady her body and her eyes met another's in the crowd. A moan of despair left her lips, and she ran away from the growing crowd, up the stairs to the senior's dormitory to lock herself in her room until the humiliation was over.

* * *

"Well, would you like to explain yourself?"

Riven wanted to shift awkwardly under the woman's piercing gaze but he wouldn't allow himself to show such weakness, especially since he hadn't been in the wrong in the first place. He had just been grabbing some food and drink having completed his sentry duty for the day when Musa had barrelled into him. He had been annoyed, pissed off even, that she had knocked him down and more importantly that she had continued to just sit there looking mortified and unbelievably beautiful while he had felt like a complete schmuck. Then the mistletoe had appeared and after that, things had just degraded into anarchy – a really excellent anarchy.

"Don't stand there smirking, young man. I want an explanation."

"I don't know what happened," He drawled. And he really didn't. Musa had begun pawing him for some reason and looking at him as if he was something incredibly delicious. Not a bad thing, but certainly strange when she generally reserved her best disdainful looks for him – except for that one time… he shook his head sharply. Now was not the time for such reminiscing. It was in the past, it would have to stay there.

"She kissed me."

"And you didn't think to disengage yourself?" Griselda demanded with that nasally, superior tone she was so well known for.

Obviously the woman had never experienced anything of a sexual nature in her life – repressed hag – so he didn't bother to try to explain to her that being in that position with Musa had been pretty damn pleasurable until their audience had shown up.

"Your actions today were completely despicable. I will be taking this matter up with the head and vice head and your punishment will be decided then. For the moment – "

The door burst open and Princess Stella of Solaria stumbled in. "I'm sorry Miss Griselda, it was my fault."

"Miss Stella, please remove yourself from this office this instant until you have been summoned."

"But it was my fault. I placed an enchantment on the mistletoe. I didn't realize it would…I didn't know it would turn out like this. So please. Don't blame Riven – it was - it was my fault." The last part had to be choked out as it was well known that Stella and Riven shared no love for each other.

"What kind of enchantment?"

"Well um," The girl laced her fingers and dug the toe of her shoe into the ground.

"Stella," Griselda warned, her tone growing sharper.

"OK, so it was this totally harmless spell to… well see, Musa broke up with Jared and I really thought that she should move on, cause you know, he's moved on, the jerk. I really wanted to put spots on his face because that would have…" She trailed off with a nervous laugh at Griselda's pointed look before quickly continuing, "That's not the point. Musa got on my bad side because we fell out, nothing major but she poured my favourite shampoo down the toilet; and yes, I have extras - several hundred extras – but it was the principal of the matter and I thought, maybe she wouldn't be such a grouch and a – a - a love hater if she could find someone for herself. So I placed an enchantment on the mistletoe I bribed Flora to give me."

Griselda closed her eyes as if praying for patience. "That is all well and good Stella, but you still haven't told me what the enchantment was."

"A true love spell."

"A what?"

"Well you see, it wasn't supposed to actually work. I mean, the mistletoe was going to follow her around and freak her out and I got loads of really funny pictures of her hiding in closets whenever a boy came near, it was… not funny. Right, um, so yeah the spell was only supposed to work if her true love was around and I…"

"Spit it out Stella."

"Hehe, it's really kind of a nice thing I did, because, I found her true love which is Riven… not sure why Fate hates her, but I'm sure it's a good thing."

"What happens when she finds her true love?"

"Well, um," She tugged a strand of hair over her shoulder and began to toy with it. "It would overwhelm her inhibitions and make her more receptive to um… well, I'm not really sure."

"She jumped me." Riven pointed out.

"Ok, well, I mean I'm sure it would have stopped there. It was just…" Stella stopped with a frown and her eyes turned accusing, "You know what: you weren't supposed to be her true love. You suck as a true love! But you kissed her back and you didn't fight her off which means that you love her back and – and – why are you with other people when you love each other?! I might not have gone about it the right way, but I did a good thing. So… you'd better prove that you're good for her. Go break up with Darcy and live happily ever after with Musa. That's what Yuletide is all about."

"Riven, you may go back to your dorm. I will deal with you later. Stella, I believe we need to revise the meaning of Yuletide because it does not involve bespelling mistletoe to attack your friends."

Stella huffed out a breath and stomped her foot. "I still say I did you both a favour," She hissed as Riven passed her, "So you better not mess this up or she'll never forgive you and you'll be doomed to be forever miserable and as much as that might suit you, Mr. Sourpuss, it wouldn't suit Musa at all. So go fix things."

"Stella!"

"Coming, Miss Griselda."

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**A.N. **The next part will be up very soon before the end of the month. Hope you like it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Winx Club.

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Yuletide Enchantments Part Deux. 

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Musa was humiliated. She would never be able to face the population of Alfea ever again. The story had already spread around the school like wild fire, as evidenced by her classmates who had messaged her to find out the scoop. Was she really with Riven now? Was she going to fight Darcy? Had she been having a secret affair with Riven this whole time? Was that why she and Jared broke up? The questions were endless and horrifying. What did her so called 'friends' really think of her?

She scowled and punched her pillow, ignoring the muted whispers outside her bedroom door. Tecna had tried to come in earlier but Musa had fetched her dress and shoes, handed them to her through a gap in the door and then locked it tightly. They could all go to the feast, she was planning to wallow here in misery until it was time to go home tomorrow morning. Thank god for the trip back home. Earlier she had been almost dreading it, now it was the only thing keeping her sane. Maybe by the time she got back to Alfea, the gossip would have died down.

Oh why her? Why did fate always pick her to have a laugh at? She was in love with a boy who ignored her. The boy who had claimed to love her had moved on when he realized her heart wasn't up for grabs. And all of her friends were blissfully happy in their relationships, even Aisha, who's marriage had been arranged for her, was happy with her fiancé.

And there was Musa who knew fine well who her other half was because of her unique talent and she couldn't be with him because he was too busy sniffing after a skanky witch with a penchant for purple pleather. Fate really was a bitch.

She sniffled and scowled. She was not going to shed tears over Riven. She had done that once before and she was not going to go down that path again. Riven had made his bed so he could go lie in it.

"Musa!"

"Come on, sweetie. We just want to talk."

And funnily enough, she didn't want to talk to Flora of all people right now. Bitter though it might be, Flora had got her happy ending and right at that moment, Musa didn't want to deal with her. So grabbing her headphones, always kept close at hand, she pulled them over her head and let her mind slip away.

* * *

Stella stood outside the Dining Hall with a heavy heart. Inside the choir was cheerfully singing one of the many carols Mr. Wizgiz had taught them but not one of them did anything to improve her humour. To be honest, she would have preferred that they didn't sing because it only reinforced the fact that Musa wasn't up there singing as she normally did before the Christmas Feast. Technically Stella should have been inside, sitting with her friends and mocking the shapeless gowns the students wore but she remained outside, standing by the wall beside the kitchen sidedoor.

Her eyes skipped to the floor and her brows puckered. If, as the rumours were saying, Riven had come out of this door just as Musa had barrelled into him, then not too far from where she stood was the spot where Musa and Riven had... succumbed to her spell. She winced. How could she have gotten it so wrong? And poor Musa, ravaging Riven on such an unforgiving floor couldn't have been very comfortable, not to mention the drafts that filtered through the passageways or how exposed the place was. Anyone could have stumbled upon them...

She should have known not to trust a spell printed on the back of a facial packet. Then again, she thought darkly, she hadn't expected it to work. She, and her superior, beyond belief powers, had to be the reason it worked. A true love spell, drat it all; and to saddle Musa with that miserable lump... Stella sighed. Musa would never forgive her for this. Not unless she came up with a truly spectacular plan.

"You look like your head is about to explode." Aisha declared as she positioned herself to lean against the opposite wall. Her jade eyes swept over the floor and she arched a brow. "Why a true love spell?"

"A combination of it being a spell I wanted to try – I honestly, didn't think it would work, you know – and well, Musa's been so down in the dumps lately. Have you heard her music? It's all mopey and slow, and hello, who dances to that kind of thing?" Stella rolled her eyes and flicked a manicured hand dismissively.

"So you did a true love spell to cheer her up?"

Now why did Aisha's tone have to sound so dry and acerbic? It wasn't as if Stella wasn't above being generous and selfless. She always wanted what was best for her girlies. Musa might have been able to sense the music in people's hearts which told her who 'harmonized' well with whom but Stella's powers came from the stars. Who else but the stars could tell who was fated? It was like an innate knowledge to know that Jared and Musa were boringly incompatible and Bloom and Andy were just puppy love and that Riven and Flora had no chemistry. But she always held her tongue when they asked her to because she wanted them to be happy, even if that happiness was false and based on an idealistic view of the significant other.

"No, I did a true love spell to show her that there's someone else other than Riven out there."

"Other than Riven?"

"Oh please, everyone knows Musa and Jared broke up because Jared knew he couldn't compete with Riven. It was like this twisted triangle only one of the points – Riven – was completely oblivious. And this is the season of goodwill and in a few days there's New Years Eve and after that there's Valentine's Day, so I wanted Musa to have someone to kiss and love. Who better than her one true love? It's like a quick, easy fix."

Aisha rolled her eyes. "And you didn't think that quick, easy fix was so quick and easy because it was wrong? Magic is not supposed to be used for self gain."

"There was no self gain – it was completely self no gain. I gained nothing. In fact, I gave Musa a chance to find her true love... except it wasn't supposed to be Riven."

"I thought you told Bloom that it wasn't supposed to find anyone."

"Well, technically, I wasn't really expecting her true love to be wandering around the corridors. I mean honestly, how kitschy would that have been?" Stella grumbled. "Yay, if it did happen but I wasn't holding out much hope but at least if it found no one for her, I could at least tell her to stop pining over Riven because he's not the one."

"Except he is."

"Yeah," Which was so unbelievably cruel of Fate. She got Brandon, Bloom had Sky, Flora had Helia, Aisha had Nabu and Tecna had Timmy. They were all really great guys and Musa got Riven. That was such a cop out. "On the bright side, they now know they're truly meant to be together."

"You think Riven's going to run up to Musa and propose? Do I have to introduce you to him again? It's Riven, he doesn't do Prince Charming." Aisha pointed out, arching a sculpted brow and pursing her lips. "Besides, Riven's with Darcy."

"Well surely knowing who his true love is now should rectify that situation at least. I mean honestly, he's an Alfea Fountain student. He should know better than to date a Cloud Tower Skank."

"Better Cloud Tower than Beta."

Stella considered that for a moment. "Ok, I'll give you that one. Beta is second rate after all and Darcy does have a bit of class, though seriously, what I wouldn't give to give that girl a makeover. Makeup is not to be abused like that. But at least she makes the pleather work; hello, the gothic Lolita style is so last century."

"Stella? Hi, I'm Aisha, I don't care about fashion."

Stella gave her friend's outfit a quick study, cargo pants and a black curve hugging vest-top, and smiled blandly. "I know, honey. We need to make things right."

"No, _you_ need to make things right."

"That's what I said, so we need to make Riven admit his feelings to Musa and that'll give her the power over him and _that _will make her feel better. She'll even forget this whole being humiliated in front of the whole school thing."

Aisha didn't look exactly won over by the argument but Stella knew she was on to something. All she had to do was force Riven and Musa into a confrontational situation. They would fight, shout, fight some more and then eventually in the heat of the moment, Riven would confess and then everything would be ok again.

"That's not going to work." The cocoa skinned girl finally voiced her doubts.

"Oh, of course it will, I'm not only the fairy of the sun, moon and stars, and fashion but I'm the fairy of love as well. I know these things. Trust me. In an hour, everything will be right as rain just in time for the Feast and the Lighting of the Yule log. I just know it."

* * *

"This is all your fault."

Riven shot the blonde an exasperated look before he jump kicked the practice dummy in front of him. The slippery ground made his landing a little off balance but since he didn't land on his ass, he considered it a success. The head which had flown off, popped audibly back into existence. "Actually," He mused, "It's your fault. You cast the spell."

"Well I didn't know you'd be the one it would choose for her."

"Stella," Flora sighed, as she leaned against the wall. She should have told Stella no, when the blonde dragged her away from the tree she'd been decorating and conversing with to go track down her ex-boyfriend. "Can't you just talk to her Riven?"

"Musa and I haven't _talked_ in a long time." He snapped, giving her a pointed look. She sighed. Well that was true.

"Yuletide _is_ the season of forgiveness."

"There's nothing to forgive."

"You – you – Argh!" Stella growled and stomped over to him, poking his chest with her pointy fingernail. "You kissed her."

"No, she kissed me."

"No you kissed her, the night you and Flora broke up."

Riven hissed out a breath and darted a quick look at Flora, who didn't seem in the least bit surprised, which was a surprise. He had thought that no one knew about that night. Musa certainly seemed to have forgotten all about it the next day. "She told you?"

"She told Kiko."

"The bunny told you?!"

"No, but plants have ears."

"What?"

Flora shrugged her shoulders. "Well, it's true. I talk to plants and there was a Yuletide tree in the room with her when she told him. I heard about it through the grape vine in my room."

"Why didn't you say something?"

"We broke up."

Throwing her hands in the air, Stella stalked back to the wall. "Oh that's all very noble but the real reason is because – "

"Stella!"

"What? You broke up so why would Riven care that you kissed Helia that night?"

Riven stuck his tongue in his cheek. Well that did explain how the two shy members of their little group of 'friends' came to be a couple so soon after Flora and he had broken up. It also explained why she hadn't been too cut up about the break-up. Her mind had been on Helia while his mind had been on Musa. "Wait a minute, a plant told you about Musa and I and you told everyone else?"

Flora's cheeks burned bright fuchsia. "It wasn't like that."

"It kind of was," Stella steam rolled over her protests. "But here are the facts. You like Musa, Musa likes you. The mistletoe dictates that you two should live long and prosper – " He didn't remember the mistletoe saying anything about being rich, heck he didn't remember it talking at all. "So go get the girl."

He thought about that for a second, then dragged that second out to three seconds and then a minute until Stella began to shift nervously. "No."

"You have to! This is all your fault."

"No, it's all your fault." Huh, he was actually enjoying this.

"If you don't go up and talk to Musa right now and make with the nice-nice, I'm telling the entire school that not only was Musa under a spell and incapable of knowing what she was doing, but that you took advantage of her in her vulnerable state!"

"Stella, you can't do that."

The blonde shrugged her shoulders, leaning back against the wall that bordered the courtyard. "I can and I will. Musa is our friend and because you didn't fight her off, she was publicly humiliated in front of the entire school. That's _your _fault."

"And what, you think that if I go up and talk to Musa things will work out ok?" Because Riven really didn't believe that. Musa was going to go stick her head in the ground and that was fine by him. He didn't need the hassle of a relationship right now. He just wanted to finish up with Alfea Fountain and become a member of the elites.

"Actually, I really do think that it might." Flora spoke up. "You should at least give it a try. I know you miss her."

Yeah, and wasn't that a kick in the teeth.

* * *

A soft tapping roused Musa from her thoughts. Lifting Kiko off her lap, she placed the rabbit on the couch and rose to her feet, padding to the French doors where already she could see the silhouette of a figure in the faint light. If this was another attempt by the girls to draw her out of the dorm, she would shut the curtains in their face. However, as she came closer her eyes narrowed on the familiar figure standing on the balcony, hand braced against the frame as the body loomed over her.

"What are you doing here?" She demanded, already feeling the hot blush rushing up the nape of her neck.

"Open up, it's cold out here."

She crossed her arms, not giving an inch. "What do you want?"

"Musa, it's cold."

She closed her eyes, then cursing herself for being so weak, she unlocked the door and left him to let himself in, as she made her way to the couch. She sat down and pulled her knees to her chest, staring stonily at the soft glow from the fireplace. She heard him enter, all but felt the charge that electrified the air causing it to taste thick and heavy as she drew it into her lungs. Taking shallow breaths, she focused on the sensation of Kiko's fur as she ran her fingertips through it.

"You need to get dressed and go down to the feast."

"No I don't." Nor would she. She wasn't going to subject herself to that humiliation. Call her a coward but she didn't have it in her to cope with everyone staring at her and whispering about her in a crowded Hall where she would have no chance of escaping.

Riven heaved a sigh and moved to sit in the armchair to her left, facing her, he placed his fingers on his knees and leaned forward, eyes intent. "If you don't, Stella is going to tell everyone that I took advantage of you so if you don't go, I'm not going."

That snapped her out of her stupor. "Stella's going to say what?"

"She figures that since you were the only one under the spell, you had no control of your body while I on the other hand did have control but chose to do nothing."

She frowned. That actually made sense. For Stella. "You did kiss me."

He rolled his eyes. "No, you kissed me first."

"Yeah but I was under a spell and you didn't push me away. Jerk."

"I didn't know you were under a spell. One minute you were sitting on top of me and the next minute you were kissing me."

That's not how she remembered it. "You didn't push me away."

"I tried to."

"Not very hard." She retorted, remembering his half-hearted attempts to untangle himself.

"I think you have me mixed up with Sky. I'm not some noble prince out to protect your virtue."

"You should have known something was wrong and done something about it. I had no control of myself. You could have easily pushed me off."

Riven made a disgusted sound. "So what if I could have? Why would I?"

"Why would you push me away? Because I wasn't acting myself."

"You think that crossed my mind. You seem to credit me with some ability to think straight where you're concerned. _You_ kissed me and I was supposed to, what, pretend some knightly morality and push you away? Piss off Musa."

"Yes exactly. God Riven, if any other guy did that to me I would have him brought up in front of the disciplinary committee and any other girl would do that too."

Riven jumped on her point instantly, "Ah but if it were anyone else, this situation wouldn't have happened. You wouldn't have kissed any other guy because you were only supposed to kiss me and I wouldn't have kissed another girl because she wouldn't be you."

"So if a girl pinned you to the ground and kissed you, you wouldn't kiss her back?" Yeah, she really believed that. Riven wasn't exactly known for his chastity around campus. He may not have been an incorrigible flirt like Brandon but he had his own list of conquests.

"No Musa, contrary to your skewed belief, I haven't been with anyone since before the summer."

"What about Darcy?" She demanded, folding her arms and arching a brow.

"We're friends." Again she opened her mouth but he quickly silenced her by reaching forward and slapping his hand over her mouth. "We tried dating; it didn't work so we decided to be friends. Before the summer break."

"Emm-mmm oomph mm hmmm."

He moved his hand and sat back in his seat running a hand through his hair. "Besides, what about you and what's-his-face?

"Jared, and I told you earlier," While she'd been licking his ear, dear dragon above, "We broke up two weeks ago."

"Right, your songs clashed. Our songs apparently belong together, right? That's what you said."

Her face grew hotter and she stood up, moving away from the fire even as a chill began to settle through her body. "Look, I'll text Stella and she'll say nothing."

"Doesn't matter if she does or doesn't, people are already drawing that conclusion since Stella started telling people she'd placed a enchantment on you or the mistletoe or whatever. So I don't see the point of going to the Feast. Everyone's just going to be staring the entire time."

Hearing it out loud from someone else suddenly made Musa recognize just how stupid her reasoning sounded. Why were they letting a bunch of teenage, hormone driven fairies and heroes dictate where they went and what they did? So what if they'd kissed, others did worse things. Kiloru for example, once apparently kissed a girl while others said that Mirta, a one-time witch, was in a relationship with her ex-roommate from Cloud Tower. While Musa certainly didn't believe that was true, she did acknowledge that Mirta could possibly have an interest in the opposite sex. And never once did either of those girls let the rumours get to them. They just continued on with their heads held high.

Spinning round, she studied Riven. He really was too good looking for her liking. He wasn't classically handsome like Sky or Brandon and he didn't have the poet good looks of Helia or the exotic darkness of Nabu nor was in possession of Timmy's cuteness. But he was ruggedly gorgeous and coupled with the arctic bad-boy nature and the rangy body, he was definitely topped a few lists with the female population.

It was probably for the best that they would never really be anything more than casual acquaintances. She'd tried being his friend but that had failed miserably when he'd started dating one of her closest friends and she had become so jealous that just the sight of Flora made her want to claw the exotic beauty's eyes out. When she'd kissed him, just last year at New Years Eve, she'd realized that she'd only end up with her heart broken because there was not a chance that she would escape with her heart intact and Riven was commitment phobic.

And she was incapable of ignoring his existence, so maybe she should just try to be civil to him. After all, they only had to last another three months or so. She could do that. Three months and then he'd join the Elites and she would put all her effort into becoming a great musician like her parents.

"I miss you." The words blurted out before she even realized she had opened her mouth and hung suspended in the air between them. Wide eyed, she stared at him; then struggled to regain her composure before he could say anything that would damage their tentative steps towards being civil. "I mean, we should go. I have to get dressed and then we'll deal with this together."

She hurried to her room with the intention of locking herself inside and possibly drowning herself under the shower.

"Yeah," he croaked.

She nodded, inwardly cursing herself for the slip of the tongue. She reached for her bedroom door handle, feeling a sense of relief that sanctuary was just a step away. Riven's hand slapped on the door, holding it shut. Panicked, she stared up at him. "Let go of the door, I need to get changed."

"Look, I miss you too."

"Great, now let go of the door." Her voice was too high, too frantic as she struggled with the door.

"Musa, stop."

She blew out a breath and rested her head against the doorway. "What?"

"We need to sort this out."

"There's nothing to sort out," Except there was. There was a lot to sort out but she couldn't do that right now. She needed to get away, get inside and then she could go downstairs and just deal with everything. The staring was a heck of a lot less daunting that the prospect of talking to Riven at that moment. Their emotions were heightened and he would only say something that he would later regret. "I don't want to be Flora."

"What?"

She closed her eyes, trying to bring her thoughts to order. "I don't want to be Flora," She repeated. "I don't want to be that girl you date just because she's there. I saw you with Flora. You only went on dates when people goaded you into taking her somewhere. You barely listened to her and she was always running after you because you didn't care enough to meet her half way. You made her do all the work in your relationship so is it any wonder that when someone actually cared about her, that she cheated? She beat herself up over that but at that time, all I could think was how could she do that to _you_?"

She shook her head, turning to face him. "You made Flora do the one thing she abhors more than anything. You made her cheat. I don't want to ever compromise my morals because you're too big a jerk to realize what's in front of you."

"Get off your flying dragon Musa and tell me what the hell you were doing while Flora was 'compromising her morals'?"

Musa's cheeks heated and she averted her gaze, suddenly aware of just how close he was to her. She wanted to back away but there was nowhere to go and he was caging her in, one hand planted on the door at either side of her head.

"Yeah," he chuckled bitterly, "You don't want to remember that do you? Well, how about I remind you? While Flora was cheating on me, you were helping me cheat on her."

"That's not fair! You wouldn't leave me alone that night. I told you to fuck off Riven and you followed me into that room."

"Because I wanted to know where my best friend had gone!" He shouted; eyes furiously boring into hers. "I wanted to know why the hell you had abandoned me in favour of hanging out with Brandon or those little dance freak friends of yours."

She pushed away from the door, into him. "You were just pissed off because you couldn't have your cake and eat it too. Did you really think I was just going to sit around and wait for you to spare me some minutes when you weren't off making out with Flora? You chose Flora, Riven, you didn't choose me."

"I didn't know I could choose you. You never gave me any indication that you looked at me as anything more than a friend, Musa."

"I couldn't have made it more obvious. I spent every minute of every day with you, whenever you called, I dropped everything to go off somewhere with you."

A tinkle of soft bells overhead made them look up suddenly and the blood from Musa's face drained while Riven's gaze narrowed. "What on earth?"

"I thought Stella took that enchantment off me?"

"She said she did." Riven growled.

Musa shifted uncomfortably away from Riven. "Well obviously she lied."

"Well, just ignore it. It'll get the message and it'll go away."

"You can't ignore it." Furious, she glared up at him, ignoring the urge to linger at his mouth. "It's bad luck to ignore it and I can't risk bad luck. Do you know what happens to fairies cursed with bad luck? Bad things happen to them, Riven, bad things."

Riven growled and squeezed his fists. "Fine." He bit out and then, to Musa's astonishment, he leaned down and kissed her hard and fast on the mouth before retreating just as abruptly leaving her with a bruised impression on her lips. "There. Now can we get back to what we were talking about?"

Musa stared up at him. What on earth –? Her hand lifted to her lips, feeling the slight swell and tingle that spread across them. They trembled for a moment and then slowly began to curve as a soft, bewildered, giggle slipped out, followed by another. Unable to help herself, Musa dissolved into quick, helpless peals of laughter.

"Musa -," Riven tried, but his words came out thready as he tried to cover up his own mirth.

Wiping away the tears from the corners of her eyes, Musa shook her head at him. "You – what –" Another chuckle escape and she blew out a long breath. "What are we doing?"

Riven coughed out a laugh, but he couldn't stop his hands from moving up to rub Musa's arms, heating them with the friction. "I should say I'm... sorry, for what happened that night but I'm not. I'm not even sorry for what happened this afternoon."

She sobered. "You should be."

But strangely enough, she wasn't sorry either. She regretted how the actions had occurred but she didn't regret kissing him. It tormented her and plagued her dreams but it would be worse, she mused, to not know what it would be like to kiss Riven.

"Why? I..." He trailed off. "I don't regret kissing you. I never have, I won't ever. But I have a proposition."

"Oh?"

"We'll go to the feast, together. No pressure, as friends or whatever you want." He hastened to add. "We'll see how it goes and... we'll just see how it goes."

Heart in her mouth, she slowly nodded. "I'm going back home tomorrow though."

"We'll talk," He decided. "And we'll just see how things go over the holidays. You'll be back next semester and then whatever happens, happens."

"Ok," She finally agreed. "No pressure."

"No pressure." He echoed, standing back and putting his hands into his pockets, looking suddenly vulnerable and anxious. It couldn't be easy for Riven, someone who always specialised in reacting, to suddenly have to play the waiting game.

A soft smile played on her lips, and she quickly rose up to kiss his cheek. "Thank you."

She saw his eyes widen in surprise before she darted into her room to recover and change.

* * *

In her office, she studied the spell before her. True love, hmm. Well, she supposed, while the Solarian Fairy had placed just a little too much enthusiasm into the spell, it had been with the best interests in mind. And goodness knows she, herself, was fed up of seeing the music fairy and the purple haired specialist moping around. Yuletide, after all, was the season of giving. So taking the spell into her hand, she allowed the mistletoe to do one last act of goodwill; then, with a grim smile, Griselda closed her hand around the plant and magicked it away.

Yuletide Enchantments, indeed.

* * *

_The End_

* * *

**A.N. **Well I'm still not completely happy with this but I have assignments to do before class begins again and I really spent more time on this than I should have, so here it is. I hope you enjoy. And thank you to everyone who reviewed, it always means a lot to see that people enjoy what I write.


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